Trolley.



T. VARNEY.

TROLLEY.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 16, 1906.

Patented Aug. 31, 1909.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1.

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ATfORNEY T. VARNEY.

TR0LLEY. APPLICATION FILED JAN.16, 1906. 932,65 1 Patented Aug. 31, 1909.

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WITNESSES:

It J) O gw i T. VARNEY.

TROLLEY.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 16, 1906.

Patented Aug. 31, 1909.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

WITNESSES:

' UNITED STATES PAT are.

THEODORE VABNEY, 0F PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFAOTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

I TROLLEY.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug. 31, 1909.

Application filed January 16, 1906. Serial No. 296,318.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THEODORE VARNEY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have inventeda new and useful Improvement in Trolleys, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to trolleys for electrically propelled vehicles and it has for its object to provide a device of this character,

, suitable for high speed operation, that may be held in contact with the trolley conductor by spring action and be lowered by pneumatic pressure and retained in such position by a pneumatically operated latch device, the supply of fluid-pressure being under the contro of the vehicle driver or motorman.

Trolleys of the pantograph frame construction, such as the trolley described in Patent N 0. 801,226, granted to the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, as assignee of H. P. Davis and Christian Aalborg, which are adapted for high speed service, have usually been raised-and held in engagement with the trolley conductor by pneumatic pressure, the action of gravity being rellied upon to lower-the contact shoe when air was exhausted from the actuating cylinder. In the trolley abovereferred to,

the lower extremities of the frame were piv-. otally mounted upon shafts which were relatively close together, the simultaneous'movement of the two halves being eflected by cooperating gear segments which were attached to the side rods of-the frame.

According to my present invention, the

shafts on which the frame is mounted are located a considerable distance apart and are rotatably mounted insleeves or bearings of insulating material that are attached to the roof of the vehicle and a combination of crank levers and connecting links is employed for efi'ecting the simultaneous action a of the two halves of the frame. By locating spring pressure, and a latch 1s provided for Fig. 5 is a holding the contact shoe down after it has been lowered by the fluid-pressure.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a side'elevation of a trolley constructed in accordance therewith and Fig. 2'is a front elevation of the contact shoe of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan view and Fig. 4 a side elevation, on an enlarged scale, of portions of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, both views being partially in section to disclose the supporting and actuating means. F plan view of the trolley shown in i 1. i

l ieferring to the drawings, the trolley illustrated therein comprises a double pantograph frame structure 1, the lower extremities of which are rigidly attached to a pair of supporting shafts 2 and 3, a sliding contureat the side angles of the pantograph, v

one operating means for raising-the contact shoe and another means for lowering it. The aforesaid operating means for lowering the shoe comprises a pneumatic cylinder 7, which is mounted upon the shafts 2 and '3 near their centers without rotation, a pair of-similar piston rods 8 and 9' that are adapted to operate within the cylinder 7 to effect rotative movement of the shafts 2 and 3 and a plurality of crank lepreventing their vers- 10, which are attached to the shafts 2 and 3 and are connected to the outer ex-' tremities ofthe rods 8 and 9 by links 11.

-'Helical springs 12 encircle the piston rods 8 and '9 and are interposed between the respective ends of the cylinder 7 and the inner extremities of the piston' rods, which'are provided with flanges or enlargements to engage the springends. A pair of pistons 13 are adapted to operate within the cylinder 7, between the inner extremities of the piston rods 8 and 9, and a feed pipe-14 is provided near the middle of the cylinder through which fluid pressure may be admitted between the pistons 13. When the fluidpressure is suflicien't to overcome the pressure of the helical springs 12, the pistons engage the inner extremities of the piston rods 8 and 9 and force them outwardly.

' In order to effect simultaneous rotation of the shafts 2 and 3, crank levers are rigidly attached thereto and are connected by links 16 and 17.

In order to make the pantograph frame.

structure particularly strong without making its weight prohibitive, tubes of steel or other conducting material of suitable strength'may be used in its construction and each of. the lower members of the frame may preferably comprise two tubes 18 and 19 which are fastened to the shafts 2 and 3 by clamping devices 20. The crank levers l1 7 .and 15 are so arranged with reference to the rods 18 and 19 of the frame 1,'that when the helical springs 12 are compressed and the piston rods 8 and 9am forced out to the limit of their travel by fluid-pressure exerted of the several rods which are "embodied in the frame structure are so arranged with reference to the height of the trolley conductor above the vehicle upon -which the trolley I shoe 1s in engagement with the trolley, the frame. is never extended to the limit of its travel, this'relation being provided in order that a' relatively high degree of pressure may be exerted by the shoe against the trolley conductor;-

The trolley structure is insulated from the roof of the vehicle, or any similar surface upon which it may be mounted, by a plurality of insulating sleeves 21 which serve as bearings for the shafts 2 and 3 and are located near the outer extremities of'these shafts. The sleeves may be of considerable size and of suitable material to withstand h thelvoltage strains to, which they may be subjected, and bushings 22 of bearing metal,

suchv as babbitt, may preferably be inserted so thatthe sleeves may be cast of relatively hard insulating material, such as glass or porcelain without producing undue frictional wear upon the shafts. When a babbitt bushing is poured into a porcelain sleeve the sudden change in temperature often ruptures or cracks the sleeve and in order to avoid-this difiiculty the babbitt bushing may be poured into a gas pipe or similar tube of suitable dimensions which may then be cemented into the porcelain sleeve when cool, The sleeves 21 may be supportedby brackets 23, which surround the sleeves and may be bolted or otherwise attached to the top of the vehicle;

is to be used, that when the contact Since the contact shoe is lowered by pneumatic pressure in the cylinder 7, it is desirable to provide a mechanical means forholding it down, in order to maintain it in such position in case the pressure becomes exhausted from the cylinder by leakage, or otherwise, when the vehicle was not in service. I have provided, therefore, a latch mechanism 24 which comprises a small cylinder 25 having a piston 26 and a piston rod 27 which is connected with a catch 28, a helical spring 29 being interposed between one end of the cylinder 25 and the piston 26 in order to hold the catch in its closed position unless fluid-pressure is admitted to the cylinder through an inlet pipe 30 to oppose the action of the spring and unlock the catch. A hook 31 is attached to the lower surface of the contact shoe 4: and is arranged to engage the catch 28 when the trolley frame is collapsed.

Assuming that the contact shoe. is held in its lowest position by the engagement of the hook 31 with the catch 28 and it is desired to raise the contact shoe into engagement with the trolley conductor, fluid-pressure may first be admitted to the cylinder 25, through the inlet pipe 30, from an air reservoir carried by the vehicle or, if this is'exhausted, suflicient pressure may be supplied to unlock the catch 28 by means of a small hand pump so that the vehicle driver or inotorman may readily release the catchby the use of means located on the platform of the car. As soon as the hook 31 is released from the catch 28, the springs 12 raise the contact'shoe into engagement with the trolley conductor. This arrangement has many advantages over those of the prior art in which fluid-pressure was required to raise the trolley and to hold it into engagement with the trolley conductor, since mechanical energy must always be applied to raise the contact shoe into engagement with the trolley conductor in case the storage cylinder became exhausted and the -fiuid supply could be restored to the tank only by the operation of the fluid pumps, that were usually driven by motors which received their energy from the trolley conductor.

I desire to include Within the scope of my invention trolleys that embody variations in size, form and arran ement of details which do not materially c ange its mode of operation. I i

I claim asmy invention:

'1. A ,trolley for electric vehicles comprising a plurality of brackets, insulating sleeves or bearings s pported thereby, a air of sub stantially parallel shafts rotatab y mounted in said bearings, a double pantograph frame attached to the extremities of the shafts, a contact shoe mounted upon the upper end of said frame, a spring-actuated device for expanding the frame and raising the contact rotatably mounted in said bearings, a double pantograph frame attached to the extremities of the shafts, a contact member mounted upon the upper end of said frame, and a spring-actuated device for expanding the,

frame and raising the contact shoe, of pneumatic means for causing the frame to collapse and lower the contact shoe, and a pneumati'cally-actuated latch for holding the shoe in its lowest position.

3. A trolley 'forelectric vehicles comprising a plurality of brackets, insulating sleeves or bearings supported thereby, aair of substantially parallel shafts rotatab y mounted in said bearings, a double pantograph frame attached to the extremities of the .sh afts, a sliding contact shoe mounted on the upper end 0 said frame, a spring-actuated device for expanding the frame and raising the contact shoe, pneumatically-actuated means' for collapsing the frame to lower the contact shoe, a spring latch for holding the shoe in its lowered position, and pneumatically-actuated means for actuating the latch to release the shoe. e

4. A trolley for electric vehicles, comprising a plurality of brackets, insulating sleeves or bearings supported thereby, apair of substantially parallel shafts rotatably mounted in said bearings, a double pantograph frame attached to the extremities ofthe shafts, a contact member mounted on the upper end of said frame, a spring-actuated device for expanding the frame and raising the contact .shoe, pneumatic means for collapsing the frame, and a pneumatically-released catch for holding the frame in its collapsed positlon.

5. A trolley for electric vehicles comprising a plurality of brackets, insulating s'leeves orbearings supported thereby, a air of substantially parallel shafts rotatab y mounted in said bearings, a doublepantograph frame attached to the extremities of theshafts, a slidin contact shoe mounted on the upper end 0 said frame, a spring-actuated device for expanding the frameand raising the contact shoe, and pneumatic means for causing the frame to collapse and lower the contact shoe.

6. A trolley for-electric vehicles comprising a plurality of brackets, insulating sleeves or bearings supported thereby, a air of substantially parallel shafts rotatab y mounted in said bearings, a double pantograph frame attached to the extremities of the shafts, a contact member mounted on the upper end of said frame, a spring-actuated device for expanding the frame and raising the contact shoe, and pneumatic means for causing the frame. to collapse and lower the contact shoe. I 7. In a trolley for electric vehicles, the

combination with a plurality of brackets, insulating sleeves or bearin supported thereby, a pair of substantia 1y parallel shafts rotatably mounted in said bearings, a double panto raph frame attached to the extremities o the shafts, springs for expanding said frame, and a contact shoe mounted on the upper; end of said frame, of pneumatic means for causing the frame to collapse and lower the contact shoe.

8. The combination with a contact member and a pantograph su porting frame therefor, of spring-actuate means for ex anding said frame, pneumatically actuate means for collapsin the frame and a pneumatically-released atch for holding the frame in its collapsed position.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 9th day of January, 1906.

THEODORE VARNEY.

Witnesses:

H. A. MULLE'rr, BIRNEY HINEs. 

